Sweeter Temptation (Kimani Hotties) (7 page)

Chapter 9

K
yle awoke to Nia thrashing beside him.

“Stop,” she mumbled. “Watch out.”

He sat upright, blinking to orientate himself to the pitch-black darkness enveloping the room. Ice-cold air hit his bare chest.

“Watch out!” Nia shouted the words, followed by a moan and something that sounded like the word
tree.

Realizing she was still asleep, Kyle nudged her gently, but she continued to flail.

“Wake up, Nia,” Kyle said louder. He gave her a gentle shake. “It’s just a dream.”

Finally, she roused.

“Kyle?”

Instinctively, he reached out and drew her into his arms. “Yes, baby. I’m here,” he reassured. The endearment slipped from his lips naturally as if he’d called her that for years. “It was just a dream.”

“Cold.” She trembled in his embrace.

Kyle rubbed at the gooseflesh on her arms, but resisted the urge to pull her closer. They needed to figure out options for light and heat first.

Nia yawned. “What time is it?”

He felt for his watch on the night table and checked the time by its light.

“Two a.m.,” he said. “Looks like the power’s out. I need to rebuild the fires in here and the living room. You’ll be okay for a few minutes?”

“I’m fine.” She nodded, but he could still feel her trembling.

He got out of bed and scrambled in the dark to find the jeans and sweater he’d thrown on the floor earlier in his frenzy to make love to her.

“Wait.” She reached into the bedside drawer and a moment later a beam of light cut through the darkness. “This may help.”

Kyle took the proffered flashlight.

“My first trip after the last power outage was to the hardware store,” she said.

“I don’t suppose you picked up a generator.” He aimed the light in her direction just in time to see her smile, which bathed the freezing room in warmth.

“No, but there are candles and plenty of firewood.”

“Well prepared and beautiful.” He leaned in and brushed a kiss against her mouth, noticing this time she didn’t flinch or freeze up at the apt description.

Kyle brought more wood from the living room and made quick work of getting the bedroom fireplace going. Meanwhile, Nia donned a pink flannel robe, lit candles and added more blankets to the bed.

“That’s better,” he said, as heat began to radiate off the flames.

“But not nearly as good as body heat,” Nia said, her dream apparently forgotten.

Kyle slipped into bed and once again gathered her in his arms. He leaned back against the headboard. Although, she’d seemed to be over her nightmare, he couldn’t help feel guilty. It was his fault she’d had it in the first place.

“I’m sorry.” He kissed the top of her head. “I shouldn’t have pushed that movie off on you earlier. If I’d known it would give you nightmares, we would have never watched it.”

Nia shook her head. “It wasn’t the movie,” she said, her voice sounded hollow and weary.

“You’ve had the dream before?”

Again, she nodded. “Every once in a while.”

Kyle knew it was none of his business. They’d only known each other a little more than a day. Much too soon for his protective instincts to kick in.

“Want to tell me about it?” he asked, telling himself he was merely curious. “I’m a good listener.”

He felt her shrug.

“You don’t want to hear my troubles. From the way you were shoveling snow earlier, it seems like you have enough on your mind.”

“I’ll make you a deal. You tell me about your dream, and I’ll tell you about the one I had last night,” he offered.

Nia lifted her head off his chest to look up at him. The candlelight cast a soft golden glow over her smooth, brown complexion.

“And what makes you think I want to hear about your dream?”

“Because you were in it.”

Nia lay her head back on his chest, and he tightened his embrace. She exhaled. “I was dreaming about the night my mom died,” she said. “We were in a car accident. She died instantly. I walked away with cuts, bruises and a broken arm. I was seven.”

God, no wonder she had nightmares. He couldn’t imagine losing a parent so young. Even worse, Nia was there when it happened.

“I’m sorry, baby,” Again, the endearment slipped out. “Was your father in the car, too?”

Nia stiffened. “No,” she said, not elaborating on the subject of her father. “My mom’s mother took me in and raised me.”

Kyle’s gut told him there was more to the story than she’d revealed, but he didn’t press.

“Your grandmother must have been a wonderful woman,” Kyle said.

“Grandma was a better parent than either of mine ever were to me.”

Their conversation made Kyle more curious. He wanted to know about Nia. A realization that startled him.

After sex, he was usually the one looking for his clothes to make a quick exit. Yet here he was holding this woman against him asking to hear her secrets and tempted to divulge his own. The storm was holding him here, of course, but he wanted to be here, too.

“In addition to having awesome taste in movies, your grandmother did a great job of raising you,” he said. “I think you’re incredible.”

You were lucky to have her, he wanted to say. While he grew up with everything money could buy. He hadn’t been fortunate enough to have a caring grandparent, like Nia and his brother, Adam, to compensate for his all-business father and a long-dead mother he couldn’t remember.

Nia’s laughter kept him from dwelling on it any longer. Some things were best left in the past.

“You don’t have to flatter me, you know. I already slept with you on the first date.” Feigning embarrassment, she pulled the covers up until they covered half her face. “Actually, there wasn’t even a date.”

There could be, Kyle thought, liking the sound of the idea.

Maybe Nia would understand what he had to do with the candy factory was just business. He didn’t intentionally want to hurt her friends and their community, but he wouldn’t shirk his responsibility to Ellison Industries, either.

Kyle pulled her closer, tightening his embrace. He’d just have to figure out a way to make her understand, because after the storm he wanted to see more of her.
A lot more.

“We had lunch out and a movie,” he explained. “In my book, that’s a date.”

Nia laughed. “Lunch out? We ate peanut butter sandwiches outside on the front porch.”

“Like I said, lunch out.”

“Hey, we had a deal.” Nia tilted her neck back and looked up at him. “I told you my dream. You were supposed to tell me yours, remember?”

“It’s all coming back to me,” Kyle said. “I was stranded in a snowstorm with a beautiful woman who couldn’t get enough of sex and feeding me copious amounts of toffee candy.”

Nia gave his side a playful punch. “Is that the best you can do? Beg for candy like an off-season trick-or-treater?”

“Since the power’s out and it’s in the freezer. Seems like I’d be doing you a favor by helping you eat it.”

Nia heaved a put-upon sigh. She threw back the covers and grabbed the flashlight from the nightstand. “Oh, all right.”

Minutes later, she dived back into the bed, plastic container in hand. “There’s good news, and there’s good news,” she said.

“So what’s the good news?”

“Looks like it finally stopped snowing,” she said.

Yesterday, Kyle would have been relieved. However, now the news didn’t thrill him.

“And the other good news?” He hoped this time it was something he wanted to hear.

“The candy in the freezer had already started defrosting,” she said. “So you’re actually doing me a favor helping me eat it.”

Kyle automatically reached for a piece, but she pulled it out of his reach.

“Not so fast,” Nia said. “I told you about me, and all you did was make up a dream to get more of my candy.”

Kyle reached beneath the blankets and pinched her flannel-covered bottom. “I can’t get enough of your sweet candy.”

“Uh-uh. You can do better than that.” She popped a piece of candy into her mouth and slowly chewed.

Kyle’s stomach growled in protest. “Let’s see. I’m thirty-one years old. I...”

She shook her head, cutting him off. “Something real,” she said. “It’s not like I can tell anyone. We don’t even know each other’s last names.”

Kyle closed his eyes briefly. He didn’t want to destroy the mood, but now was as good a time as any to come clean. “My last name is El...”

“It doesn’t matter to me.” She touched a finger to his lips to shush him. “I’d rather know what was bothering you when you were shoveling snow earlier. Maybe I can help.”

Kyle kissed her finger, before taking her hand in his. It was the first time a woman had said his last name didn’t matter, and he believed her. In his experience, the name Ellison always mattered.

“Problems at work and my being out of touch with the office isn’t helping,” he said. “I’ve been expecting a big promotion, now it looks like I might not be the only candidate for the job.”

“Are you the best candidate?”

Kyle thought about it a moment and answered with certainty. “I am, but my past behavior has made it difficult to convince the right people I’m the man for the job.”

“You said past behavior, does that mean you’re a changed man?” She held the box of toffee out to him, and he took a piece.

“I wouldn’t say changed. Just a more focused man with different priorities,” he said.

“Well, I think you’re a good man,” she said. “And if your boss has a brain in his head, he’ll realize it.”

“Thanks for saying that.” Kyle reached for another piece of candy. He chewed slowly, savoring the mix of smooth, buttery chocolate and melt-in-your-mouth almond-flake crunchiness.

Nia lifted her head off his chest and faced him. “Like you, I mean what I say,” she said. “You’re good people, and I have every confidence in you.”

She offered him more candy, but Kyle shook his head. Her misplaced faith in him felt like a punch to the gut. He wasn’t good people. He was first and foremost a businessman, and his success would leave her hometown financially devastated.

Please understand,
he silently pleaded.

“There’s one piece left,” she said. “Sure you don’t want it.”

“No thanks. You go ahead.”

Nia polished off the last bite. “That’s the last of it.”

“So you’ll make the next batch from her recipe?” Kyle wanted to talk about anything that kept his mind off his work and how it would ultimately impact Nia.

She shook her head. “I wish I could, but it’s missing. She kept all her recipes handwritten on index cards and filed in a recipe box. I’ve looked and it’s not there.”

“Maybe she lent it to someone?”

“No. Grandma guarded her recipes as if they were state secrets. She never would have let anyone peek at it, let alone give it to them.”

“And with the last pieces gone, there’s no way to have it analyzed and re-create the recipe,” Kyle said.

“I hadn’t thought of doing that,” she said. “Now it’s just another one of her mysteries I’ll never solve.”

“What do you mean?”

“Grandma was the mayor of Candy when she died, and she was working on some big plan. Something important to her constituency. Unfortunately, she died, and everyone is depending on me to figure it all out.”

“Did she leave any clues?”

Nia shrugged. “She tried, but her stroke stole both her speech and her ability to write. All I could make out is there’s some file she was desperate for me to find.” She looked up at him. “I’ve practically torn her office at city hall and this place apart, but I haven’t found any file, let alone a missing recipe.”

The firelight danced across her face, and despite the low light Kyle could see the worry lines creasing her forehead.

“I can help you search the house again.”

She shook her head. “I’ve looked everywhere. It’s not here.”

“I don’t mind,” he said. “It’s the least I can do after you were kind enough to stop and pick me up, and then take me into your home.”

Nia bit down on her bottom lip. “I’m sure there are some other ways you can show me your gratitude.”

She got out of bed just long enough to shed the pink, flannel robe. She got back in and snuggled next to him, and all he could think of was her warm, naked curves.

Even as he reached for her, he knew he should tell her exactly who he was and get the hell out of her bed.

“Make love to me, Kyle.” Nia moved against him.

Her soft command and the pounding of his heart drowned out the small voice of his conscious as he kissed her. Kyle couldn’t stop himself from making love to her, before the snowplows came and ruined everything.

Chapter 10

N
ia felt the heat first, blowing out of the vents full blast, before daylight nudged her out of a deep, dreamless sleep.

The lamp on her night table was on, too.

Power had been restored, and she could hear the rumble of engines and plows in the distance. It meant the real world would soon be closing in on the makeshift one the storm had created.

Nia allowed herself a moment to savor the feel of waking up in Kyle’s arms. The warmth of his big, hard body. The satiated ache between her legs. He’d made love to her twice in the wee hours of the morning; each time was more wonderful and made her feel more beautiful than the last.

But he had a life to get back to, things to do. So did she.

Blowing out a sigh, Nia eased out of his embrace and slipped into her flannel robe. She showered quickly and dressed in jeans and a sweater.

“Reality beckons?” Kyle asked, when she returned to the bedroom.

Nia nodded. “Whoever plows the road after a storm usually comes up to the house to check on me since it’s so isolated,” she said. “From the sound of the plows, they’ll be here soon.”

Kyle flung back the covers, and she allowed herself a greedy eyeful of his nakedness. Her eyes remained glued to his firm behind as he bent to gather his discarded clothing. Nia licked her bottom lip. What she wouldn’t give for a sudden deluge of snow and one more night.

He strode across the room to her, clothes in hand but still deliciously naked. He hauled her against him in one swift motion and kissed her so thoroughly her toes curled inside her thick socks.

“Good morning,” he said.

“Morning.” The kiss had stolen her breath away, and she barely formed the word.

“I don’t suppose it’s a good idea for us to...” Kyle began, still holding her flush against him with one arm.

Nia followed his gaze and his thoughts to the sex-rumpled bed. He was hard again, and her panties were already damp in anticipation. The sound of engines grew louder, and she shook her head.

Kyle heaved a sigh and kissed the top of her head. “Yeah, I know. We’ve got company coming,” he said, finally dropping his arm. “I’d better get dressed.”

He stopped in the doorway. “I was thinking we could have dinner together this evening, after I get my car and transportation sorted.”

His suggestion caught her off guard. As wonderful as what they’d shared had been, Nia hadn’t expected he’d want to see her again. She pressed her lips together to stop an enthusiastic “yes” from tumbling out of her mouth. She’d made herself a promise and she had to keep it. No matter what her body wanted, what her heart wanted, it was time for her brain to take the wheel.

And Kyle was just a sexy, one-night stand.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea.” The words came out of her mouth slow, almost painfully. “Last night was great, but...”

For a moment, Kyle looked as if she’d slapped him. The expression came and left his face so quickly she thought she’d imagined it. “But as you said, you only wanted one thing,” he finished.

Nia could only nod.

“All this time, I thought I was an expert at giving the brush-off.” His eyes were devoid of the warmth they’d held earlier. “I could take a lesson from you.”

Nia opened her mouth wanting to say something, anything to bring back the sweet moments they’d shared last night and this morning, but words eluded her. So she stoically ignored the protests of her heart and continued to use her head, just like her grandmother taught her.

One woman in their family had thrown her life away on a man. Nia wouldn’t put herself in a position to let history repeat itself.

“Look, Kyle,” she began.

Her cell phone rang in the other room. Apparently, the service had been restored. Further evidence their real lives were hurtling toward them at a frenetic pace.

“You’d better get that,” Kyle said. “I need to get dressed.”

Nia’s gaze followed him out of the bedroom to the bathroom, before she went to the kitchen to retrieve her ringing phone.

“Our power and phones are finally back,” Amy said, after she answered the phone. “Just wanted to know if yours are, too?”

“Everything’s okay here.” Nia’s distracted gaze wandered down the hallway to the closed bathroom door.

“The fire chief blazed through here with the snow plow a bit ago headed in your direction,” Amy said. “He should be there soon.”

“I can hear the plow outside now,” Nia said.

“So you didn’t get too stir-crazy holed up there by your lonesome, did you?”

“Actually, I have a houseguest.”

“A
what?
”

A knock sounded at the front door.

“There’s someone at the door, probably the fire chief checking on me. I’ll call you back,” Nia said.

“What houseguest?” Amy asked. “Who’s there with you?”

“I’ll call you back.” Nia ended the call.

Answering the door, she wasn’t surprised to see the volunteer fire chief on her front porch. However, she didn’t expect him to be accompanied by Deputy Butler.

“Afternoon,” the two said simultaneously.

“Just wanted to make sure you rode out the storm okay,” the fire chief said. Like most of the people in town, he also worked at the candy factory.

Oh, she’d ridden it out just fine. Nia felt her face flush as images of last night with Kyle played through her head.

“Can I offer you guys some coffee?” she asked, shoving the images aside.

“We just had coffee at the Miller’s,” the fire chief said, which earned him a less-than-discreet elbow jab from the deputy.

“We’d love some.” Deputy Butler stomped off the snow clinging to his boots. He removed his uniform hat emblazoned with a gold star above the wide brim, as he eagerly crossed her threshold, nudging the fire chief inside with him. “On a cold day like this you can’t have too much coffee. Besides, I’ve been trying to have a cup with you for months.”

Nia cringed inwardly. She hoped he wasn’t reading anything into the neighborly gesture.

“If you two want to have a seat in the kitchen I can make that coffee to-go so you can be on your way,” she said.

The deputy cleared his throat. “Actually, I’m also here on police business.”

“Here?” Nia stopped in her tracks. “What’s going on?”

“A car was abandoned, about five miles down the road. We’re worried the motorist and any passengers might have attempted to walk to shelter and succumbed to the elements,” Deputy Butler said.

“He’s fine,” Nia said. “I mean, I came across the car on the way back from town the other night and brought the driver home with me.”

As if on cue, Kyle emerged from her bathroom fully dressed and looking better than any man had a right to.

“Kyle Ellison?” Deputy Butler asked.

Nia’s antenna went up at the surname as bits of information began to assemble in her head like puzzle pieces.

Ellison.

The Ferrari’s temporary Tennessee tag.

Business.

The pieces slid into place too easily for it to be a coincidence, and she felt like the biggest fool on earth for not putting them together before now.

“Glad to find you safe, Mr. Ellison,” Deputy Butler said. “When we came across your car we feared the worse.”

Kyle’s gaze shifted from the deputy to her. “Thanks to Nia, I survived.”

“Ellison Industries?” Nia asked without preliminaries.

Even as he confirmed it with a nod, Nia could barely comprehend someone from the corporation they’d been desperate to make contact with had been under her roof.

“And Jonathan Ellison?” Nia’s head was spinning.

“My uncle.”

“Which makes you?”

“Vice president.”

Surprise gave way to a feeling of dread swirling up from the pit of her stomach. His clipped answers. His stiff body language. The impassive expression on his handsome face.

“You’re here about Peppermint Lane?”

Kyle nodded.

“Mr. Ellison, your vehicle didn’t appear drivable, so I’d already called dispatch to have it towed,” Deputy Butler interrupted. “If you’d like to retrieve any personal belongings. I need to take you to your car before they arrive.”

“In a minute, Deputy,” Kyle said. “I need to have a word with Nia first.”

“Nia, I’ll have to take a rain check on that coffee. I’ve got to get going,” the fire chief said.

Still reeling, the manners her grandmother had drummed into her went on autopilot. “Of course. Thanks for clearing the road and stopping in to check on me.”

“No problem.” The fire chief turned to Kyle. “Good to see you safe, Mr. Ellison.”

Nia felt Kyle’s large hand on her lower back as he steered her into the dining room. She’d told him about the factory, and what it meant to the people of Candy. He knew and said nothing. The heat from his palm emanated through her clothing straight to her core. Nia hated the way it made her throb with need.

She swallowed hard and tried to clear her head.

“Why?” she asked. “You could have told me, why didn’t you?”

Kyle reached out to her, but she shirked from his touch.

“It just never seemed to be the right time,” he said.

“So you lied.”

“I never lied to you.”

Nia closed her eyes briefly and shook her head. “It was all a lie,” she whispered more to herself than him. She thought about lines he’d fed her in bed about being beautiful. “Everything you said was just a big, fat lie.”

Kyle hauled her against him and captured her mouth in a kiss.

A forceful kiss she would have been able to fight off, but not this one. His arm was like a steel band around her waist, yet the movements of his lips, his mouth, the way his tongue stroked hers were so achingly tender. Nia found herself surrendering to them completely.

Kyle’s lips moved to her cheek. “It wasn’t lies, Nia,” he murmured against her cheek. “What I told you when we made love was the truth. I’ve never met a woman more beautiful than you.”

Nia shook her head, as if it would erase his words from her head. She was being a fool. Just like her mother. The very thing she’d promised herself and her grandmother she’d never become.

But it wasn’t about just her. There was a town full of people afraid for their livelihoods, and the man with the power to ease their worries was standing in front of her.

She had to put her feelings aside and think about them.

“Nia, I know you have sentimental ties to the factory, because your grandmother was employed there, but the place simply isn’t profitable. It...”

“It’s more than sentiment, I’m trying to save it,” she said. “I’ve come up with a proposal. I was working on it on my laptop yesterday. If you’ll just hear it out.”

Kyle shook his head, his answer written all over his handsome face. “Nia, I...”

She touched her fingertips to his lips to stop him, not wanting to hear what she suspected he would tell her. She also didn’t like what she was about to say, but she had no choice.

“Kyle, I’d never try to take advantage of the fact we slept together,” she said. “But I will take full advantage of the fact I picked up a stranded stranger in the middle of a blizzard and took him into my home,” she said. “We have a proposal to make the candy factory profitable, I’m asking you to hear us out.”

“Mr. Ellison.” Deputy Butler stood under the archway separating the living room from the dining room. His eyes narrowed as he glanced from her to Kyle. “We really need to get going if you want to get your things.”

Nia looked up at Kyle. “All I’m asking you to do is listen.”

“I have to get my transportation sorted.” Kyle took her hand in his and squeezed it. “We’ll talk later.”

Nia’s heart clenched as she stood in the window watching the county sheriff’s SUV disappear down the road as Kyle and Deputy Butler departed. The man was barely out of the driveway, yet already the farmhouse seemed empty without him.

Her cell phone rang and she answered, not bothering to look at the number.

“What houseguest?” Amy practically shouted the question.

“Kyle
Ellison,
” Nia replied, emphasizing the last word.

“Hold up. Did you say ‘Ellison’?” Amy asked. “As in big, fat money pie Ellison?”

Nia didn’t think of him that way, but she confirmed he was indeed from Ellison Industries.

“Oh, my God! I don’t believe it! How in the world did that happen?” Amy was yelling now, and Nia had to pull the phone away from her ear until her friend settled down.

Finally, Nia was able to fill her in on discovering a stranded Kyle on the side of the road and having little choice but to take him home with her.

Amy pelted her with back-to-back questions. “So what did he say about the factory? How much money are they going to pump into it? Are they going to renovate it? As you know the place is way overdue for renovation.”

“Slow down, Amy,” Nia said. “I don’t know the answer to any of those questions. In fact, I didn’t even know his last name until a short while ago.”

“What?” Amy practically shrieked the question. “You mean you were snowed in two days with an Ellison and didn’t know it? How did you not know the man’s last name?”

Nia sighed, still staring out the window at the snow-covered landscape. “When we introduced ourselves in the truck, we only gave first names. The man was freezing, he could barely get that out, and I was focused on driving us back here safely,” she said. “As we got to know each other, the subject of our last names never came up, and it never occurred to me to ask him.”

And when he’d tried to tell her, she’d stopped him. Nia touched her hand to her mouth, as she remembered shushing him before he could say it. He had tried to tell her.

She heard a sigh on the other end of the line. “Okay, I guess I can see how that could happen,” Amy conceded. “So is he still there? Did you show him your proposal?”

Nia told her Kyle had left with Deputy Butler.

“What’s the guy like?” Amy asked.

“He was nice.” Nia’s nonchalant tone belied the jumble of emotion enveloping her. He was more than nice. A lot more.

“I’m just glad someone from Ellison Industries is finally here and not just a lackey, but a genuine Ellison,” Amy said. “That’s got to mean something.”